The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Senior year of high school, I was miserable. When I stopped to reflect on my life, I could hardly believe the things I was doing. I joked about my Jiminy Cricket being on vacation; I had no conscience. I didn’t let myself think about my actions. Finally, at the beginning of senior year, I started examining my life and didn’t like what I saw. I was caught up in a lifestyle that I wasn’t happy with, but didn’t know how to get out of without losing all of my friends. I remember talking to Rachel about it, and she assured me that she’d love me no matter what. And, almost ten years later, that has proven to be true. But at the time, I felt trapped. I remember one day I thought to myself, “Maybe this is all just a dream.” And I started to think about what my life would be like when I woke up. I had this vision of living in an adorable little house in Friendsville , Maryland . I would be an elementary school teacher. It would be a Saturday, and I’d work outside i

A student is being extremely disruptive. You start out by giving him a warning, then a strike. He continues and receives strike 2 (no recess). The behavior continues and he receives strike 3 (behavior essay to be signed by a parent). He refuses to write it. You plan on calling his mom as soon as you have a break. On the way back from lunch, he and some other students are playing in the hall. Since it's just a small group and not the whole class, the rest of the class goes in the classroom and starts a lesson while the kids who were misbehaving stand out in the hall in a line until they can get it together. He and one other boy are there for one hour. A little while later, it's time for recess. This student, of course, has to sit out. He goes to talk to a friend, and you send him to stand against another wall, away from his friends. He looks you in the eye and refuses. You tell him you will be speaking to his mother, and he shrugs. It doesn't bother him because

Go see it!!!!! I was afraid it wouldn't be that great (I loved the first one, but wasn't crazy about the second one), but it totally exceeded my expectations. As soon as the first scene started, I was trying not to dance in my seat. The music and dancing were so fun! And I really liked the story; it dealt more with their internal struggles of deciding their futures. There were actually some really sweet moments that brought tears to my eyes. (Yes, I know, I'm a huge NERD.) But it made me reflect on all the really bad decisions I made in high school, and how some of those decisions still affect me. Not that high school would have been just like the movie if I'd made better choices, but still, I wish I could do things over again. Anyway, the movie is super cute, as long as you realize that it's total fantasy. And the romance between Gabriella and Troy is just so sweet. I really loved the waltzing scenes. Want to hear a funny High School Musical story? Nanc

2 weeks ago, I bought the best apples I have ever tasted at the Farmer's Market. Last weekend, I was sad to be out of town on Sunday because I was fiending for those Honey Crisp apples. They tasted like sparkling cider- heavenly. When I got to the Farmer's Market this morning, there was NO PRODUCE. No flowers, either. I consoled myself with a cinnamon roll from Kristoffer's Cafe. Delicious, but I'd rather have had an apple. How do you have a Farmer's Market with no produce? I went for a walk this afternoon and the sky looked like that Georgia O'Keefe painting at the Art Institute. I was basking in the beauty of the moment when I almost stepped on a used condom. Ah, city life.

Brian said this to me after we'd only hung out a few times. I was like, "What are you talking about?" Then I told Nina what he said, and she cracked up and said, "Wow, he has you figured out." I'm beginning to wonder if Brian was right. Dave and Sarah helped me out by taking my car while I was in Phoenix. I called Sarah to check in while I was gone, and she said, "Um, Erin, Dave said your car is really messed up. The engine is skipping, and the sway something or others aren't working right. It's dangerous to drive." F-ing A. And then she wondered how I could not realize that something was so wrong. I'm not a complete crackhead, I promise! I noticed the alignment was off, so I was going to take it in. Eventually. At least the good news was that I got my pay raise in yesterday's paycheck, so I'll be able to afford whatever's wrong. My plan was to take my car to the Saturn dealership by my work on Thursday. But I

Friday I arrived in Phoenix at 11:20 p.m. I have always loved airport reunions, even before I saw Love Actually (one of the best movies ever). I don't usually have people to run and hug, so it was nice to have this for once. Rachel and I couldn't believe we hadn't seen each other in 10 months. We had a drink at a bar, and she took me to my hotel. Saturday We got tattoos! Rachel's flying pig: My Hebrew symbol for grace The guy who did our tattoos was really cool; he even touched one of mine up for free. We hung out for a while, then went over to Rachel's new boy's house, where he cooked us dinner. Then we went downtown to dance to house music. Definitely not my scene, but even my untrained ear could recognize the talent of the DJ. What was cool was that no one got all sloppy drunk. Rachel's boy had the most to drink all night, and he only had two drinks. It was refreshing. Sunday We went out to lunch at Islands, where Rachel works as a waitress. The

Rachel had to work last night, so I spent some time at Borders. I came across a book called "Who's Your City?" by Richard Florida. It was about the importance of location. Our society is increasingly mobile; we move all the time. So it would stand to reason that you should live in certain places if you want certain things. Obviously, some cities are going to be better than others in terms of careers. But what about social lives? For many people (including me), getting married is a priority. But what if your location is preventing that? For a while now, I've been bemoaning the fact that it is so difficult to meet guys, especially guys who are not losers. Richard Florida had a map of the U.S. in his book that showed how many more women than men (and vice versa) live in major cities in the U.S. And in Chicago, there are so many less single men than women. It's not my imagination! Women on the East Coast have it the worst, especially New York. So I no lon

I will write about Phoenix tomorrow. It was amazing and so great to be with one of my favorite people in the world. I will say this, though- I could never live in Phoenix. There is no green! People have rocks instead of grass!!!! I was so excited to drive Sarah home to Hyde Park today and admire all the green as well as the changing leaves. I wanted to roll around in the grass. Anyway, Rachel's friends introduced me to these videos the other day. I laughed so hard it hurt. I've never heard anyone out here reference them (unlike Old Greg), so I thought I'd share them here. My brother also told me to look up "Condi Rice Goes Nuts" on YouTube. It's pretty freaking hilarious, but I'm not posting it here because of all the cursing.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much. I'm a mess. Here is the situation with my classroom. I put the kids on "lockdown" at the suggestion of many other teachers, including my principal. This goes against my instincts, because I don't see how that's going to encourage positive behavior. On the other hand, you can't reward consistently negative behavior. And I can't teach if students are misbehaving. So the past two weeks have been silent work and not much teaching. They behave, for the most part, during silent work. They sit quietly and do their work. But as soon as we try to transition to something else, it's chaos and it takes a while to get them all settled and focused again. The lessons I did try to teach were not successful. If I ask a question, everyone yells out answers. Or, if I call on someone, everyone else starts talking. This happens despite frequent reviews of the rules and procedures for class discussions. I finally told my

Go see this movie! It was great! Laugh out loud funny, and really sweet. It reminds me of classics such as Can't Hardly Wait and Empire Records. My friends and I had many nights that were similar to the one in the movie, and it made me miss that. Perhaps I will put that on my list of things to do- have crazy adventure nights just like high school. Although the problem with that is that you never plan those nights; they just happen. Anyway, I want to say more, but I don't want to give anything away. So just go see it! But don't bring young children with you. I was a little surprised by the PG-13 rating. I took my little sister, and I just kept hoping the jokes were going over her head. Nina tried to say, "Well, they're going to watch that kind of thing anyway, and it's good to watch with an adult..." but I don't really want to explain the meaning of the phrase "balls deep" to an 11-year-old.